Monday, August 29, 2005

Well - Brandon has been here since last Thursday and it has been great. The first 2 days we just studied Thai and let Brandon recooperate from jetlag. He's doing great now and John and Brandon have been going all over the place passing out tracks and visiting at the villages.

This last Saturday I went with Pii Thak to help her with the night market children. These children run around in this market while there mothers and fathers run their shops with little to no love or supervision. Pii Thak has been going out every Saturday and Sunday ministering to them by telling them stories of God's love, playing with them, giving them treats and fun stuff like stickers and just spending time with them.

When we first arrived there were about 7-8 children and by the time we left there were well over 15! They are starved for love and attention and they LOVE Pii Thak. This was my first time to come and they remembered me and Josiah. We had been there and played with them when we brought that drama to this market a couple of months ago. They want to know where Josiah was :) John and the guys showed up later with Josiah to pass out tracks in the market.

We started with prayer and some chit chat and then Pii Thak told them a story about a village that had a well that only put forth dirty water....and that in order for the village to have clean water they had to dig a brand new well. This story relates to the fact that when our hearts are dirty and only gives out bad things we must allow Jesus to give us a new heart....Pii Thak was wonderful at relating the story to the children and keeping them entertained!

Afterward we gave them free books with fun activities (all in Thai - Praise God!) and Kathryn arrived with the candy :) Kathryn and Pii Thak then proceeded to teach the kids some fun kids songs about Jesus and the love of God ( I haven't learned them yet ). The kids had a BLAST! After that Pii Thak pulled out some Christian temporary tatoos and they were beside themselves. Pii Thak loves these children so much she put each tatoo on each child herself...I was dealing with the onslaught of Thai people who were surrounding Josiah and trying to help him cope and not get angry.

It was a wonderful night and the children did not want us to leave at all! They kept following us asking Pii Thak more and more questions. They are so hungry for more love. We will be returning every weekend to these children - and I am wondering if any of you know some simple Christian songs that we could teach them. I know a few that we can translate into Thai and they have hand motions - but I am very curious if there is someone out there who knows a ton of them :) If so, we would be greatful for any help with more songs. The children love them and songs stay with you for yoru whole life - the only songs I know, I learned when I was a child.

Some more good news-we just found out we can buy these GREAT tracks for only 2 baht a piece...which is around 7-8 cents a book! Tonight Brandon and John went downtown to pass out tracks and when they started passing out those specific tracks...they had a huge response. Hardly anyone turned down that book and it has so much more information and is put together much better. We need to buy more of this kind. If you want to help with this you can use the "make a donation" button at the top right of this blog and put in a specification that you want the money you donate to go straight to the purchasing of tracks and it will be done.

Passing out tracks in this country is not like in America - here they are genuinely eager to know about this Jesus that the "farangs" speak of and they want to read more. In the back of each track we put a stamp that includes information on how to send off for a free bible and how to contact us for more information.

What have I been doing you ask??? My day seems to currently consist of this: studying Thai, growing (my stomach), studying Thai....more studying Thai....make food....more studying Thai....go to class....study Thai....make food.....clean....study Thai.....spend time with God....study Thai....clean.....so on and so forth. :) Please keep me in your prayers because studying Thai is getting harder and harder but I am definately seeing results. But it's hard ya know....when you are putting in so much effort but you still can't speak what is in your heart.

The time will come though if I am diligent and stay on top of it. With studying Thai and the ministry that we do at nights and on the weekends I stay steadily tired and in a constant state of needing a nap so it seems :). This week in particular - Jude Andrew seems to be growing as fast as a giant....and I think that I don't have much room left for him and I've still got 3 months left!! WHEW! God please help my body!!!

Oh one more thing for prayer....When Jude Andrew arrives we have a little bit of a problem that we need prayer about. In Thailand they do not circumcise their children - well, I can't say that that DO NOT at all - because they will circumcise if the child is 3 years old! There are not many Dr.'s here who have experience with this at a young age and even fewer are willing to do the procedure on an infant.

If everything goes as planned we will be visiting the states from Jan. 24th - March 28th which is about 6 weeks after Jude is born. When we come to the states we have been told that there are very few Dr's in the states that will circumcise after 3-4 weeks! Two totally different believes in these two totally different cultures! I have been refered by the Dr. who delievered Josiah (thank you Nettie and Dr. Thornton!!!) to a Pediatrician that informed us that only a specialized urologist will do this procedure (in a hospital) on a child of Jude's age (6weeks+) and that means that it will cost a small fortune!!!

So, we are praying that God will provide a way for all of this to work out because we do not have insurance or money enough to pay for a procedure like this. We still have not given up on finding a Dr. here that has the experience and the will to do this procedure but John and I are being very precautious about the experience part because we want no mess ups!!!! :) As I'm sure all mothers out there understand!!

Well, we love you all and thank you so much for the comments! We love them - oh but please don't forget to leave your name (if you are wanting us to know who you are...) there are a few anonymous comments and I don't think they were meant to be anonymous. Enjoy the pics :)

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I don't have an exact figure from a Dr. but I have been told to expect well over $1,000 if done in a hospital and over $2,000+ if done by a urologist. I am hopefully going to get some exact figures soon. :) Steph

About Me

The blogging done here is by me...Stephanie. I am wife to a wonderful man that I call my equal and mother to 2 wonderful BOYS who challenge me everyday in many ways and a beautiful red headed girl.
My boys are 6 and 2 and my little girl is almost 3 months...they are knockouts!
We live in Thailand and have been serving as missionaries for almost 4 years. I've been writing on this blog since before we left to keep record and remember what it is like to leave all behind and go on our life changing adventure in obedience to our God. It's been an awesome experience and the experiencing has yet to stop.
So pull up a chair and read about what God is doing in our lives and in the lives around us here in Thailand...